§ Mr. Sharp presented the following Petition;
§ "To the honourable the House of Commons;—the humble petition of James Davison,
§ "Sheweth.—That your petitioner is a British subject, and that he has lately been established, as a merchant, at Cape Henry, in the island of St. Domingo. He sailed from that port about the 1st of December, 1815, for Port Plata, a place in the north of the Spanish part of the island. Upon arrival there a few days afterwards, he found the ship Lady Gambier, James Reid, master, from Belfast, anchored in the harbour. After delivering some letters and papers to your petitioner, captain Reid informed him, that, in case of need, he was directed, by the instructions of his owners, to apply to your petitioner's house for any assistance he might require in the prosecution of his voyage and the promotion of their interests. He stated that the principle object he had in view was to procure a cargo of mahogany and dye-woods, but that he found considerable difficulty in doing this, as these articles were extremely scarce. Your petitioner recommended him immediately to put on board the quantity of wood he had already purchased, to take on freight a quantity of mahogany belonging to your petitioner, to effect sales of the remaining outward cargo, and to invest the proceeds in the articles he wanted; if, however, he should not succeed in procuring a sufficient quantity, your petitioner recommended him to proceed to Port-au-Prince, the capital of the president, Petion, where he would be sure to find logwood and fustic in abundance.
§ "Captain Reid, upon finding the difficulty of loading his vessel at Port Plata with the articles he wanted, had resolved to adopt this latter suggestion given him by your petitioner, and to proceed to Port-au-Prince as soon as possible to complete his cargo. But a short time after he was obliged to suspend his resolution in consequence of receiving an account from the city of St. Domingo, that 864 the districts under the dominion of Petion were attempting a revolution in favour of Christophe, and that hostilities had actually commenced between the rival chiefs. However improbable such a statement might be considered by your petitioner, on account of the superior happiness and liberty enjoyed by the subjects of the republic, yet it was calculated to produce a considerable degree of caution and prudence in his advice to captain Reid, as he recollected that previous to his leaving Cape Henry, a secret expedition had sailed from that port against some part of Petion's territory, with about five hundred troops on board.
§ "As this report, if true, would completely obstruct the plan determined upon by captain Reid, your petitioner resolved to return without delay to Cape Henry, in order to ascertain how far it was founded on fact, and promised captain Reid to acquaint him with the result of his inquiries. Upon his arrival at Cape Henry, your petitioner learned that the statement which had been circulated at Port Plata was entirely false; he found the vessels, which had carried the troops on the secret expedition, had returned, and conveyed the information relative to that event in a letter to captain Reid, couched in the following terms—'King Henry's expedition against the south side of the island has been completely unsuccessful; his vessels have returned here, after having been frequently chased by those of Petion, and the troops, upon landing at Jeremie, immediately went over to the opposite party. You may now therefore go round to Port-au-Prince without any danger whatever. I understand the price of logwood there is 17 dollars.'
§ "The letter of your petitioner contained a number of other remarks upon general business, and was forwarded to captain Reid at Port Plata, by a small sloop, which your petitioner had engaged for the express purpose. About ten days after the sloop returned, having been unable to beat so far to windward as Port Plata, in consequence of the prevalence of strong easterly gales. The master declined attempting the voyage a second time, and returned the letter in question to your petitioner.
§ An express, sent overland by captain Reid, arrived at Cape Henry a few days after, with letters for your petitioner, expressive of the greatest anxiety for his safety, produced by his silence, and their 865 ignorance of his arrival; and earnestly requesting the information which he had promised, previous to his departure from Port Plata, to transmit. Your petitioner immediately repaired to the office of the baron de Dupuy, the government interpreter, with the letters which had been forwarded by the sloop and returned. Your petitioner requested the baron to sign them in due course, as it was his intention to forward them by express overland. No letters are allowed to pass the lines betwen the Spanish and Independent part of the island without this formality. Baron Dupuy said, that, according to orders he had lately received from his majesty, he could not affix his signature to any letter sent to his office, without first reading it, and requested the letters might be left.
§ "About an hour after this the under interpreter waited on your petitioner, and requested him to accompany him to the governor's house, where he accordingly went. There he was conducted to an inner room, in which were the governor and the baron Dupuy. The latter, addressing your petitioner, said, he had called him before the governor in order to oblige him to give up his authority for the information conveyed in his letter to captain Reid, viz. "That King Henry's expedition against the south side of the island had been completely unsuccessful, &c." Your petitioner replied, that his authority was the current report of the town, and that the failure of the expedition had been a topic of common conversation both among the foreigners and the inhabitants. Your petitioner said, that his reason for mentioning it to captain Reid was, to efface the impression of a false report which had been circulated at Port Plata, and which greatly interfered with his future commercial transactions; and that he would not be able to fulfil the object of his voyage without receiving the information alluded to, for the conveyance of which captain Reid had sent an express. Baron Dupuy asserted, that the passage under consideration was political and not commercial, which assertion your petitioner endeavoured to rebut, by showing the application of it to the transactions already mentioned. Baron Dupuy still insisted upon having your petitioner's authority for the report, and after some farther explanation and representation on the part of your petitioner, who declared he was unable to give up any particular au- 866 thority, he was conducted to prison by one of the governor's officers.
§ "Your petitioner, upon entering the gaol, was confined in a vaulted cell appropriated to the state criminals, strongly bolted and locked, and lighted only by an aperture in the door. The gaoler visited your petitioner the next morning, Sunday, January 21st, 1816, about eleven o'clock, after receiving his instructions from the baron Dupuy. He was accompained by some guards carrying fetters and instruments of torture. He informed your petitioner, that his orders were, to put him in irons, and that it would be useless to resist, as his attendants would enforce compliance. The leg and feet irons, generally used in that country, were then applied, and afterwards rivetted to a fifty pound weight with the assistance of a sledge hammer. Having thus rendered your petitioner incapable of resistance, they proceeded to inflict the farther punishment of torture by thumb-screws. These instruments they fixed on your petitioner, and screwed them together with the greatest violence, until the pressure on the joints prevented the vice from farther operation. They then left your petitioner, and he was visited a few minutes after by the governor, who, in the course of his prescribed duty, came to see that the gaoler had performed his task. Your petitioner, writhing under the most acute pain, addressed the governor in terms of entreaty for the removal of the screws; but finding him deaf to his application he appealed to his feelings and humanity for at least a relaxation of them. Even at this time, though so shortly after their application, your petitioner's thumbs were prodigiously swollen. The governor heard your petitioner's entreaties and remonstrances with indifference, and quitted him without making any reply.
§ "About seven o'clock in the evening, your petitioner was visited by the deputy gaoler and some guards who stripped him of all his clothes, with the exception of his shirt. They left at his side a pitcher of water and half a cake of cassada.
§ "In this situation your petitioner remained from 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, until one o'clock Thursday noon. It would be a vain attempt to describe the excess of agony which your petitioner endured during that interval. The only nourishment he took was a draught of water in the morning, and evening, when visited by the guards in their usual rounds 867 for the examination of the different cells. As he was incapable of stirring, he was obliged to solicit one of them to apply the pitcher to his lips. The cassada bread remained untouched the whole time. The exquisite pain your petitioner endured, the length of time he had suffered, combined with the intense heat of the climate, and the closeness of his ceil, at length produced a considerable degree of fever, which threatened a termination to his existence. His debilitated state was noticed by the gaoler, who made a report accordingly to the governor. He was afterwards visited by the prison doctor, who gave his opinion that your petitioner could not suffer longer without endangering his life. In consequence of this, the leg-irons, and thumb-screws were removed about one o'clock Thursday noon. Your petitioner was detained in prison for nine days longer, and was at length released in consequence of the frequent and spirited remonstrances made by his countrymen to King Henry, through the medium of his interpreter.
§ "Your petitioner begs leave to represent to your honourable House, that, in consequence of this treatment, his thumbs were in a very mangled condition, and apparently in a mortified state for some time after the infliction of this cruel punishment; and he believes that if nature had not blessed him with an unusually strong and robust constitution, he could not have survived the torture he endured.
§ "Your petitioner humbly declares that he makes this representation to your honourable House, not so much from feelings of revenge for the injury that he has individually sustained, as from a sense of the indignity which has been offered to him as a British subject. Yet, however, humble and insignificant he may consider himself in his private capacity, he has imbibed a conviction from education and observation, that the enlightened spirit which pervades the sacred laws of his country, proclaims to the whole world, that 'an injury done to the meanest 'subject is an insult to the whole nation.'
§ "Your petitioner therefore humbly prays, that your honourable House will take into consideration the circumstances detailed in this humble petition, and that your honourable House will take those measures, which in your wisdom shall appear necessary to redress the injury he has sustained, and to teach the rising power which has committed this outrage, 868 the respect which is due to a British subject. And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray,
§ "JAMES DAVISON."
§ Mr. Sharp also presented the following petition from S. Marsom:
§ "To the honourable the House of Commons.—The humble petition of Sam. Marsom,
§ "Sheweth,——That your petitioner resided in Cape Henry, St. Domingo, in the months of January and February, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, during the whole time of the confinement of Mr. James Davison, in the common gaol of that place, by order of the government of king Henry; that your petitioner was one among several British merchants, who, after the confinement of Mr. James Davison, waited upon the baron de Dupuy, the government interpreter, to remonstrate through him to the king respecting such a proceeding, and that he believes the baron de Dupuy, according to his promise to the said merchants, did communicate their representations to the king, who never took any notice of them, nor of their entreaties for his release. And your petitioner humbly showeth, that none of the British merchants resident at Cape Henry, were at all aware of the cruelty inflicted upon the said Mr. James Davison, during his confinement, until his, final liberation; and that your petitioner, as well as all his countrymen were struck with astonishment and dismay, when they beheld the mangled state of the said Mr. James Davison, produced by his having suffered the torture of the thumb-screws; and that in consequence of this act of barbarity inflicted upon their countryman, they entertained the strongest apprehensions for their own safety; as they themselves being satisfied of the truth of the objectionable assertion, could not look upon the cause of this severe punishment in the light of a crime, but merely, to use the strongest language of which the case would admit, of an inadvertency or imprudence on the part of Mr. James Davison.
§ "And your petitioner humbly represents to your honourable House, that the British merchants established at Cape Henry, thought it necessary for their future safety, that a representation of this act of barbarity, which had so nearly proved fatal to their countryman, should be laid before their own government; and your petitioner humbly showeth, that pre- 869 vious to his departure from Cape Henry, he was deputed by the British merchants resident there, to make this representation to his majesty's government as soon after his arrival in England as possible; and that your petitioner did pledge his word of honour to disclose to his own government the circumstances attending this outrage, and to solicit in their names, that his majesty's government would graciously condescend to take the affair into their consideration, and to demand some satisfaction from the government of Cape Henry, for the cruel violence offered to their countryman, in order to prevent a recurrence of similar barbarities. And your petitioner humbly showeth, that since his arrival in England, he has had the honour of laying before his majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonial department, a full and true account of this outrage committed on the person of Mr. James Davison, and that having received no answer to his representation, he conceives that he is bound by the trust which has been reposed in him, and by his honour which he has pledged, to make this application to your honourable House in behalf of himself and the British merchants established at Cape Henry.
§ "Your petitioner humbly assures your honourable House, that his majesty's subjects who reside in Cape Henry, yield to none of their countrymen in unshaken loyalty, and in the most ardent attachment to the glorious constitution of their native country; that their love of liberty, of justice, and of natural right, is unalterable by distance or by climate; and that while prosecuting commerce with the characteristic enterprise of British merchants, and yielding obedience and respect to the laws of the country where they reside, they persuade themselves that they may look with confidence to the powerful protection of their own government. Your petitioner is aware that the government which has committed this outrage upon the person of Mr. James Davison, has never been acknowledged by his majesty's government; but he states, with great humility, to your honourable House, that vessels are cleared out from his majesty's customhouses for the ports in the independent part of St. Domingo, which, in his opinion, constitutes the trade to that place lawful; and that, under this sanction, great numbers of his majesty's subjects are settled in that island, and carry on an extensive trade, which must be highly advantageous to Great Britain.
870§ "Your petitioner humbly assures your honourable House, that his majesty's loyal subjects established in Cape Henry, look with the greatest anxiety and solicitude to the result of the representation which has been made to your honourable House by Mr. James Davison; and your petitioner humbly craves the attention of your honourable House to the unfortunate situation of those Englishmen, who, if abandoned by the protection of his majesty's government, will be left at the mercy of a power, which, from the instance now laid before your honourable House, is too much disposed to treat them with undeserved and arbitrary violence.
§ "Your petitioner therefore humbly prayeth, in his own name and in the name of the British merchants resident at Cape Henry, that your honourable House would be pleased to take into consideration the humble petition of Mr. James Davison, respecting the cruelty inflicted on him by the government of Cape Henry, St. Domingo: and that your honourable House would be pleased to adopt those measures, which in your wisdom shall appear expedient, to redress the injury he has suffered, and to insure the future safety of his majesty's subjects who arrive in that part of the world. And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray,
§ "SAMUEL MARSOM."
§ These petitions were read, and ordered to lie on the table.